Buttermilk pancakes

Picture-perfect pancakes – thick, fluffy, golden – that taste as great as they look. We love them fresh on a weekend morning, and leftovers make a quick, convenient weekday breakfast or snack. Better than any pancake house, and you can stay in your pajamas. Adapted from Food.com.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt (3/4 teaspoon if using salted butter)

2 cups buttermilk (or 2/3 cup plain yogurt and 1 1/3 cup milk)

2 eggs

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Cooking oil

Maple syrup, for serving

Preparation

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir with a fork to mix.

In a medium bowl, mix buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla. Mix well to make sure eggs are fully incoporated.

Add wet ingredients to dry. Mix until just combined (too much mixing makes tough pancakes). Lumpy batter is fine; just be sure to the scrape bowl with a spatula and fold in any unmixed flour hiding out at the bottom.

Heat a skillet over medium heat (350 degrees F if you have an electric griddle) until hot enough that when you flick in a drop of water, it rolls across the surface and evaporates. Add about a tablespoon of oil and quickly tilt the pan to distribute it around. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to add pancake batter to the skillet. Turn heat to low.

Cook until small bubbles appear at the surface of the pancakes and undersides are golden brown (edges will start looking dry too). Flip pancakes and cook again until undersides are golden brown – the second side cooks more quickly than the first. It takes a batch or two to get the cooking temperature right. If the pancakes brown before the insides cook, turn the heat down.

Repeat with remaining batter. Serve pancakes hot, with syrup.

Serves 4-5.

Notes

Leftovers: Uncooked batter keeps in the fridge for a day or two (if it separates, stir it briefly before using). Usually I cook it all and store leftover pancakes in the fridge – though not as crisp and fluffy as fresh, they’re still a conveniently quick breakfast or snack.

Toppings/add-ins: distribution is best if you add to each pancake right after you pour the batter in the skillet (they tend to clump together if added directly into the batter).

Pancake thickness: a thicker batter makes a thicker pancake, and vice versa. Adjust the thickness by tweaking the thickness of the liquids, eg more yogurt and less milk for thicker pancake; more milk and less yogurt for thinner. Buttermilk users can thicken it with yogurt or thin it with milk.

Buttermilk substitutions: You can use the vinegar-plus-milk or lemon-juice-plus-milk substitution for buttermilk (use 1 tablespoon for every cup and let it sit a few minutes before using), but your pancakes won’t be quite as thick.